Stars Shine Bright at Southern Smoke

The Southern Smoke Festival is one of the biggest culinary events of the season and it seems to get bigger each and every time. Its 2025 edition was held at Houston’s Discovery Green this past Saturday and the stars were on display along with a little Skyrocket in flight.

The festival raises funds for Southern Smoke Foundation, a non-profit founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd and wife Lindsey Brown in 2015. Its mission has evolved over the past decade from raising funds for the Multiple Sclerosis Society to assisting food and beverage workers in times of need, be it financial, physical or emotional. Hospitality workers have received aid during natural disasters, health crises and job loss and SSF has expanded its coverage with its Behind You initiative which offers no-cost mental health counseling for hospitality workers and their children. It is now reaching people in more than 14 states, including Texas.

While the festival has always highlighted the talents of local chefs, it also invites restaurants and bars from across the country to participate. This year, the showcase of Food and Wine magazine’s Best New Chefs 2025 was a particularly strong one and it’s where my friend and I began our festival food frenzy that pleasant Saturday afternoon. Or mostly pleasant. It’s not fall, y’all in H-Town quite yet.

Our first bite of the day was a rather large one and a messy one to boot. The Boudin Boy from Kelly Jacques at Ayu Bakehouse in New Orleans was a flaky croissant filled with boudin and boiled egg, then topped with chili oil. The condiment turned our fingers orange as we pulled apart the laminated layers. Even though there was so much more food to sample, we each ate our whole savory pastry.

Next door was Mariela Camacho whose Austin bakery, Comadre Panaderia, opened in 2023 and has been receiving buzz ever since. She was offering its signature Pink Cake, made with heirloom corn flour and topped with a prickly pear buttercream. For those of us not terribly fond of oversweet cakes, this was a game-changer. My friend and I loved the deep corn flavor and the icing was just enough fruity flavor to give it a dessert feel. I could eat it every day with coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and prosecco at night.

We were off to a stellar start. We hit up Vinnie Cimino’s Cordelia for Corned Lamb with fermented mustard and beurre blanc. Mustard and beurre blanc are two of my favorite flavors, but I am not crazy about lamb. However, Cimino has changed my mind. Maybe I just need it corned, with a slightly charred crust. My friend grabbed a tender meatball with roasted red pepper condiment from Gramercy Tavern, whose chef de cuisine, Aretah Ettarh, is a rising star in the NYC culinary scene.

We hadn’t even made it out of the Food and Wine section and we were already feeling good, due to the boozy popsicle from Sean Umstead’s Noble Shade. With roasted peppers, muscadine and tequila, it was refreshingly slushy, but also a little burn-y on the way down. The Naem Khao from Colby Havasong at Nashville’s Bad Idea helped to cool down our palates with its coconut fried rice and abundance of chopped peanuts. Telly Justice of HAGS in NYC had a BBQ Eggplant that delivered a vinegary bite that was tempered by fig and creme fraiche.

Unfortunately, we missed a couple of the Best New Chefs, including Jordan Rubin of Mr. Tuna, whose very long line for the Maine Toro Handroll reminded us of the typical wait for Franklin’s Barbecue. Instead we grabbed a wine sample from some exuberant Italians who were enjoying the festival as much as the attendees.

We walked further out and found the tent for Sonoma Wine & Cheese. Owner Farrah Cauley was handing out sips to guests along with her brother. It was nice to finally meet her after years of email correspondence and I also was able to try her homemade pickle chips. being a pickle aficionado, I heartily recommend Cauley’s version.

Surprisingly, we found a short line at Franklin’s Barbecue (Austin). Normally, it takes forever to get a bite of pitmaster Aaron Franklin’s brisket, but since he was wandering the grounds, it was highly likely all the fans were gathered in his wake. We were the lucky ones to score a large half of the amazing chopped brisket sandwich.

We still hadn’t hit a Houston restaurant, so we rectified that by heading over to Street to Kitchen’s tent. James Beard Award-winning chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter was serving Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms & Eggplant Kratong Thong with edible spoons. Often, I complain that dishes need a little more heat. This bite from Chef Benchawan, whose food is “unapologetically Thai”, kicked my ass. For those who saw me guzzling down the High Desert Chispa cocktail from Eight Row Flint, it wasn’t because I’m a lush. This girl was on fire.

Though I have persuaded my friend over the years that seafood is not her enemy, she took a pass on the Big Mac Grilled Oysters from Martin Stayer. Her loss, because they were surprisingly tasty. They had the flavor of the McDonald’s staple, but without the anemic burger patty and excess of bread. The crispy onions on top were an added elevation.

We spotted Paws Up Montana Resort’s showcase, anchoring The Grove Market. True to its outdoors theme, there was an over-the-top s’mores bar and bison sausages. One of our best, and most caloric, treats of the day was Ryan Lachaine’s Raclette Poutine from State of Grace, where he is now introducing some of his Canadian and Ukranian dishes. The French fries were piping hot and the gooey raclette cheese just added an element of sinfulness that was worth losing a button or two off your trousers.

That bite was the last for us. We were physically unable to sample any further, which was a damn shame. There were more than 85 chefs dishing out tantalizing bites and we probably only tasted a quarter of them. The only thing left to do was to grab a cocktail and head to the stage for the music.

Skyrocket, a band out of Austin, was the live music for the day, and there probably couldn’t be a more age-appropriate line up of songs for the SSF crowd. Playing mostly ’80s tunes, with a few hits from the 1970s, they were the perfect band for the GenX-heavy attendance. This GenXer might have been singing along to Tom Petty’s “American Girl” a little too loudly. My apologies to the ears of my fellow festivalgoers.

As the sky darkened, guests made their way to the stage for the end of the night check presentation. Shepherd and Brown were joined onstage by the chefs, bartenders, restaurant owners and management staff that make the spectacular event so successful. This year’s total was $1.7 million dollars, beating out last year’s check.

Southern Smoke Festival 2026 has a lot to live up to next year. We’re pretty sure it will.

The post Stars Shine Bright at Southern Smoke appeared first on Houston Press.